Just a fantastic game. Perfect combination of OSR simplicity and well-described abstraction in the demigod powers. The mechanics that allow the characters to change the world around them with ease fit perfectly into the design of the game and are easy to work with and against as a GM.

Kevin Crawford hits it for 6 again. A really interesting take on demigod/immortal game play - the Words system is really flexible and should let your players build any demigod they can conceive. This is Mutants and Masterminds for immortals.

As ever with Kevin Crawford's systems though, the really joy is in the GMs tools, many of which could be easily applied to any system. I love a good random table and if you flick through this book armed with a d6 and a 12 and campaign ideas will launch themselves into your mind.

I'm hard-pressed to think of an independant (and solo) game designer who puts as much love and hard work into this craft as Kevin Crawford.
Godbound is a sterling example of what happens when an old-school rule set is combined with a modern-day approach to play; the result-magic!
Player's are the demi-gods in a broken land, mortals imbued with words of creation who set about forging their own paths in a setting rich with conflict and plenty of room for growth. The rule-set also supports less mythic heroes, right down to average mortals and turnip farming adventurers seeking to better their lot in the world.

Godbound provides a rich setting, ripe for plunder, havoc, rule, destruction, conquer; whatever the pc's desire!
True to Sine Nomine form, this book is packed to the gills with options to help a GM get a sandbox campaign off the ground and running. This is especially useful given the power level of pc's; anybody who is unfamiliar running games for super-beings or demi-gods have nothing to fear as Mr Crawford provides excellent advice and guidelines for constructing a setting and challenges which will make for entertaining and lasting campaigns.
The setting has enough information without becoming bogged down in senselss detail, and the book has plenty of suggestions for alternate campaigns and ideas which break from the standard game. It is clear that the book's strong focus does not diminish it's utility as a toolbook for demi-god's in a fantasy world, no matter which system you use. It is a book designed to be used and played, not just read.

For fans of a certain rpg which will remain nameless, Godbound also supports themed demi-gods including elemental scions, shapeshifters and god-walkers; huge war engines capable of massive devastation. I will say no more!

I could say much more about this game; it's excellent and tasteful artwork, clear layout and font and the author's excellent narrative voice and prose.
However, I'd much rather you go and pick up a copy and see for yourself.

Sine Nomine is a class act in a market flooded by mediocre and expensive titles. I only hope that this game and future releases receive the recognition amongst gamers that they deserve.

Absolutely fantastic. It's hard to think that Kevin Crawford would do a game like this coming off of Silent Legions but here it is. Godbound is a game where the players are normal people in a fantasy setting who gain powers of fallen "Made Gods" who almost destroyed the world years prior. The key concept is that mortals entered heaven and found god gone and fight and took control of heaven and the great machines that run their world from the angels guarding them. Then ideological differences drove them to create their own fashioned artificial gods which then began to war amongst themselves, rival factions, and the remnants of heaven's angels. They broke the world, themselves, and almost drove all of the world into darkness. Now years later mortals are gaining these stolen slivers of divine power and becoming demigods of great power who hold the potential to become full fledged gods in this broken world.

The setting has a mix of technology levels, from urban citiscapes that are barely holding on to their technology, steampunk autocratic nationstates living in fear of their robotic masters, to basted wastes where the fabric of reality lays torn and bleeding monsters and other reality horrors into the landscape. Also scattered around the world are shards of heaven itself that the players can enter, conquer, and hopefully convert into eventual paradises or bases of operation.

The system is an OSR hybrid that uses d20's for most rolls, standard combat actions, but lacks predefined classes. Instead characters are based around facts that detail their backstory which grants them access to powers and skills appropriate to that background. The real power of characters comes from the 3 beginning WORDS which define their purview of divine power, allows them to buy GIFTS which are more discreet powers, and defines how they can spend EFFORT or DOMINION on miracles and larger more lasting changes to the world. I haven't seen such a friendly free form power system since the early MAGE days. If anything I'd say unlike White Wolfs bookkeeping nightmare of a power system Godbounds miracles are quick and easy to rule on.

The game assumes the players will be facing powerful foes and reshaping the world from level 1. To illustrate this it uses a modified damage system where lesser foes do hit points of damage while the players can do full hit dice to anyone not considered on their tier of power. That is not to say there is a lack of powerful foes to face. The game present guidelines to build a wide range of horrible monsters, powerful casters, and still living Made Gods that will challenge the players growing dominion.

Not since I read the original work of Sine Nomine's Stars Without Number have I seen such a well written and developed product. It directly rivals Exalted, Cypher System's Gods of the Fall, and other similar work while still being it's own unique setting and rules. Play is fast, and exciting. Game tables will be filled with stories of armies falling, nations warping to players wills, and eventually massive universe/nay-multiverse spanning wars of conquest and heroic deeds.

It's well worth the price at free for the core game, and the Deluxe Edition includes loads of fun optional rules like magical martial arts, alternative Godbound types, and expanded artifact rules.

I've been playing D&D since the old Red and Blue boxed sets in the 80's. While I had fun with those systems, things have changed since then and some much better mechanics have come out. So I was reluctant to check this out, since it mentioned OSR (Old School Revolution) and I haven't exactly liked some of the games I've tried. They were a little too old school for me.

But fear not, this system is really a new system, and uses ideas from many of the lighter, quicker systems that have come out, like Dungeon World and Fate to speed up play and make it easy to play a very powerful character, that actually feels powerful.

If you played Birthright, back in the day, and want to play that, this is the game I'd suggest using. If you like the setting of Exalted, but don't like how incrediably crunchy that system is (especially charm system, which I have a love-hate relationship with myself), then check this game out. Especially some of the "Themed" Godbound in the Deluxe version. Many of the types are obviously influenced by the different kinds of Exalted.

Even at first level as a Godbound, your character will be capable of taking on hordes of human soldiers, and yet find fallen Angels an overwhelming threat, so you can't just run roughshod over everything. You'll need to use your many powers and ingenuity to change the world and increase your power.

The free version of the rules will let you see everything you need to see to get a good grasp of how the system works (especially damage, which might through you at first), but it is worth paying for the Deluxe version to get the extra rules and details, IMHO.

This game is a delight to read, and focuses fully on dealing with playing and running games of very high power and influence. Somehow Kevin Crawford managed to keep the game very simple and easy to play while adding so much depth of play. Buy this game!

Now look, I don't tend to particularly enjoy OSR games. I got into RPGs in the early 2000s and the vagaries of older editions of D&D don't hold much nostalgia for me. That said, I love the hell out of this game. In fact, Godbound might very well be my very favorite RPG product at the moment.

The system is pretty simple, like OSR tends to be, but it avoids all the parts of OSR that annoy me. There are no pointless limits on character power based on arbitrary things (like Race in old D&D), THAC0 isn't a thing, and every little thing doesn't have its own tiny system.

Instead what you've got is a slick interface, a somewhat non-standard Damage/HitDie mechanic that gives the game a vaguely cinematic feel once you grok it (read the combat section thoroughly, it's different), and just the overall FEEL of being... powerful.

Godbound wield the Words of Creation, little-big packets of divinity that give them access to powers that make you feel legimitately like a deity, kicking over nations or founding them, stomping horros from beyond, you name it.

The deluxe version is totally worth it too. The extra rules give you gudielines for expanding the scope of your game and even make it easy to translate in some of the feel of... other popular god-games that've been making the rounds of late.

I backed the Kickstarter for Godbound and I totally don't regret it. Kevin Crawford (Sine Nomine) is probably my favorite RPG producer at the moment. You should at least check out the free version of the game, it's super fun. And once you fall in love with that, toss him some cash and get yourself a proper book, why not? You won't regret it. This game is my new happy place.

I want to start this review by saying I genuinely love this game. I haven't been so hooked and in love with an RPG in a long while, probably not since I played Exalted 1st Edition for the first time a little over 10 years ago.

The setting goes like this: over a thousand years ago, mortals stormed the halls of Heaven in search for the One God, battling the Angelic Host along the way, so that they may know the truths of the universe. That didn't end up well, though, since the Throne was empty. Furious, mortals looted the Celestial Engines to build their own divinities, the Made Gods, according to each people's philosophies and dogma. It wouldn’t be long before Made Gods clash in the blattlefield, with each conflict tearing the fabric of the universe a little more. In the end, the Last War produced the Shattering, a cosmic cataclysm that broke and scattered the world into many Realms, each one floating alone among the Uncreated Night. Meanwhile, the Angels were forced to withdraw to Hell, a safe heaven from where they could plot to destroy the world in order to recreate it anew.

With the Made Gods dead or weakened, and the Celestial Engines at the blink of collapse, hope was all but lost. But then, the divine energy contained in Heaven's dead Made Gods poured into the world below, gifting ordinary men and women with divine might. These are the Godbound. Whether the world is to be saved or doomed, it's their fate to carve its ultimate destiny.

Like I said before, the core engine is recognizable to anyone who has played classic D&D before. You have six attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence and Charisma) rated 1 to 18 to measure how good you are on a particular field. If you need to make a check to see if you succeed or fail, you roll a 20-sided die. High is good, low is bad. The usual stuff.

What sets Godbound apart? For once, no skills. Instead, players have Facts, which work in a lot of ways similar to Fate's Aspects. If you have a Fact applicable to a non-combat die roll, you add a +4 bonus to the roll. Quick, simple, and customizable to each PC's backstory and deeds. Players may also use Facts to get a general idea of a character's resources, and it's possible to gain stuff like Lesser Magic (wizardry used by mortals) or a Divine Artifact in lieu of the +4 bonus. You start with three Facts, gaining a new Fact with each experience Level you reach.

Of course, that alone wouldn't make for unstoppable demigods, so we have Words, the spheres of divine might that tell us what a Godbound can do. Some Words are Fire, Beasts, Command, Passion, Sword, and many more. Each character starts with three Words, although it's possible to bind to more as they level up. Just be bonding with a Word, characters get access to some related perks or Attribute increments. For example, anyone who bonds with Fire will be immune to flames, while someone who bonds with Might will automatically have Strength 19.

Once a hero’s Words are chosen, the player selects Gifts among those Words, powers his character will always have available (some are constant, while others must be activated by the Godbound). In addition, Godbound may invoke Miracles from their Words, either to emulate Gifts they didn't buy or to create their own effects (of course, doing so costs more than having purchased the right Gift for the job). That way, Godbound have both fixed powers and free-form magic they can access in times of need.

Some Gifts and powers are free to use, but most require the character to commit Effort in order to activate them for as long as the power is on. One the Godbound no longer needs the power active, he may instantly reclaim his spent Effort (for example, if a Gift enhances an attack, the Godbound can reclaim the Effort as soon as the attack is resolved). The strongest powers require the hero to leave Effort committed even after its effects have ended, either for the remainder of the scene or the whole day. A Level 1 character starts with Effort 2, and increases this score by one each time they Level up. It's incredible how much you can achieve even at first level with just two points, making bookkeeping quite easy.

How does this all play in game? Awesomely. Combat is fast and furious, with lesser enemies possessing no treat to a pantheon unless in very large numbers (luckily, Godbound has fantastic Mob rules). All Godbound have a Fray Die (1d8 by default). Every turn, regardless of their action, they get to roll their Fray Die to represent minor miracles that inflict damage on lesser foes. That way, Godbound can dispatch larger number of lesser enemies quite fast.

On top of everything else, the book itself is incredibly helpful for the GM, full of advice and techniques to design epic adventures for your players. Even if you don't like OSR, and even if the quite streamlined and polished rules in this book are not to your taste, the book is so full of rules and tips that can be easily converted to other game systems that it's worth buying it just for that anyway.

My favorite subsystem in the book is Influence and Dominion. As they gain Levels, characters increase their Influence pool, which they can commit (just like Effort) to alter the world around them off-screen based on his Words. For as long as the Influence remains committed, their divine powers sustain the change, only returning to its original state if he withdraws the points or an external force interferes. For example, let's say a Godbound finds an isolated island village that is constantly raid by pirates. He has to travel to a far place to deal with the tentacled abomination the pirates have for a deity. He fears the village is not safe until his return, so he works on a plan to defend them while he's away. Working for a few days, he crafts a metal-men army, imbuing them with life with the Artifice Word. For as long as the Influence remains committed on the task, the army will be upkeep and functional. If he ever withdraws it, though, they will start to fall apart and malfunction.

If a Godbound wants to make one of this changes permanent, he has to spend Dominion. Once he has done so, the change is permanent and he no longer is required to commit Influence to upkeep the change. Once spent, Dominion points are lost, and the character needs to earn more (usually from receiving worship, performing heroic deeds or looting Celestal Shards). Following the previous example, the Artifice Godbound could spend dominion to make his metal army a permanent addition to the village, ensuring that even after he has long gone they will still protect the village.